Representation of the Detective in Film Noir

The detective is a staple character in film noir. Even today with Neo-Noirs such as Sin City there is still a detective. There a crucial part of any crime mystery and they usually have a key set of characteristics, this post is going to explore some of those characteristics.

Firstly the age of the detective can say  a lot about the character itself. He's usually an older man, mid 40's. He's seen what there is to see of life and he isn't happy. He knows the tricks of the rade and he doesn't need some young new rookie giving him orders, he knows his way is best and he sticks to it. People usually associate older age with stubbornness and that's exactly what the detective usually is; stubborn.

Secondly the gender of the detective in noir will, most likely if not always be, male. During the 30's/40's when Noirs were huge society saw men differently as they do today. They were seen as the masculine heroes who put the food n the table whilst his wife stayed at home and cleaned/cooked. Men had an overbearing sense of power during those times that was reflected on the big screen through Warner Bros Noir films. Watching some you will often see a backhand to a woman's face or remarks such as "Sweetheart" and "doll-face" which would be considered sexist by today's standards.

Finally, although he's usually depicted as rough, strong and resilient they usually fall prey to women who are easy on the eyes. Femme Fatales are usually the key reason why the detectives get themselves into trouble. They fall for the dame that's dangerous, the one they can't have and end up paying the consequences because of this.

The Detective in our Film Noir is Detective Lance Bullock, he's the first speaker in the form of a voice over and sets the tone for the rest of the film. He's rough, he's angry and he doesn't like wild goose chases. However he does believe in his superiors, he knows that when they have a hunch they're usually right, so as strange as their orders are this time he has no choice but to trust them. We tried to script a detective who resembles all the key characteristics shows above that are common conventions of his character in film noir. Our detetcive goes by his gut, no matter the cost.